"Hurry! Hurry! Pick up the pace!"

Amidst urgent shouts, a force of 24,000 men was marching at full speed. The commander of this force was Major General Misby, but the order to march was not issued by him, but by Chief of Staff Dingle, the overall commander.

They had been away from headquarters for some time, and their destination was the very battlefield where the fierce fighting had taken place the previous night. However, their purpose was not to provide support or participate in the battle; to be precise, they were now considered "rescue troops."

As the one who initiated the "rescue order," Dingle was also in the army. Riding on horseback, he had a solemn expression and his brows were filled with unresolved anxiety.

This moment was undoubtedly the most regrettable in Dingle's thirty years of life, and the reason for his regret was the battle he had launched just a few hours earlier.

Although he was at headquarters and not a participant in the battle, as the commander-in-chief, he kept a close eye on the front lines and constantly sent messengers between the two locations to understand the situation.

In the first two hours or so, he received news that the enemy had set up positions outside the factory, seemingly having prepared in advance. The enemy was defending their positions, while his side was launching a strong attack, attempting to break through the enemy's positions.

This news made Dingle realize that the carefully planned battle had indeed encountered unforeseen circumstances. However, as Klein had said before, there is no such thing as a battle that is guaranteed to be won. It is only natural that some changes will occur. As long as the strong offensive is continued and the Yan army's position is broken, then the battle will be over.

Dingle thought this, but his mood gradually became agitated. He knew that with the enemy's powerful firepower, the offensive battle they were going to fight would be quite difficult. If they wanted to break through the enemy's defenses under fire, they would have to suffer heavy casualties.

Sure enough, every message that followed described the ferocity of their attack and the strength of the enemy's positions.

As Dingle had predicted, the difficulty of positional warfare had increased significantly, making him increasingly nervous and uneasy. He felt that he might have to sacrifice half or even more of his troops to break through the enemy's defenses, but if he could actually break through, then even if the battle was fierce, he could still win.

In a tense and anxious atmosphere, at 7:44 AM, a cavalry unit responsible for communications returned to base camp in a disheveled state, reporting an urgent message.

The enemy is advancing from the north and south, and has already outflanked our troops. Communication routes have been cut off, making it impossible to reach the front lines!

boom!

The weight of this urgent message was like a thunderbolt from the sky, striking Dingle with overwhelming force. It stunned him so much that his mind went blank for a moment, and his legs even gave way, almost causing him to fall to the ground.

It took him nearly two minutes to recover from his daze. The shock and anger that followed contorted Dingle's face. He could no longer remain calm and began to roar and curse:

"Damn Yan people! You treacherous and cunning bastards!!!"

This was the first time in Dingle's life that he had been so enraged; he had never been this angry, not even when his own naval fleet was completely annihilated in Bruno Harbor.

The difference lies in the fact that he is in full command and command of this current battle.

But now the enemy has sent troops to encircle them from the north and south. Without a doubt, the battle plan they had arranged has put their own army in deep danger.

The fact that the enemy dared to make such a deployment indicates that they must possess an extremely large force, possibly even larger than our own, otherwise why would they carry out such a flanking maneuver?

The friendly forces, who were engaged in fierce fighting, fell into an encirclement and were now facing fire from all sides. As a result, the course of the battle not only deviated completely from its objective, but also turned into a march towards the abyss.

'We must not let the war continue like this,' Dingle thought in a mixture of shock and anger.

After thinking for a few minutes, he ordered Major General Misby to immediately gather the entire army and advance towards the enemy's encirclement. He wanted to lead the 24,000 men outside the encirclement to attack the enemy lines and create a breach in the encirclement.

Around eight o'clock, after Misby finished his mobilization, the army set off from the main camp, and by this point they had been advancing for more than half an hour.

At that moment, a troop of cavalry hurriedly returned from the front.

"Sir, the situation is terrible. There are enemy cavalry everywhere three kilometers away, and their numbers are enormous."

"And they have already detected our marching movements; we are about to encounter them."

As soon as he finished speaking, Dingle's face darkened, and he said, "Is there any obvious gap? Or any place where the enemy forces are sparse?"

The sentry looked grim and shook his head, saying, "No, sir."

"Around eight o'clock, we spotted the enemy. Now their encirclement is complete. Although they are mainly cavalry, I think they may have brought their artillery by now."

Upon hearing this, Major General Misbee, standing beside Dingle, frowned and said:

"That would be very troublesome."

"The front and rear ends of the encirclement have always been of paramount importance, and the Yan people will certainly reinforce them with heavy troops. Our army has made no progress in attacking the Yan army's positions outside the Macedonian military factory for several hours, and now the Yan people have extended their battle line here..."

At this point, Misby glanced at Dingle, whose face was ashen, and hesitated before saying:

"Breaking through this line and creating a breach will be extremely difficult..."

"It's even possible... that we'll get caught up in it too."

Misby had wanted to say this when Dingle ordered the troops to advance at eight o'clock. He knew that once the enemy's encirclement was formed, it would be extremely difficult to break through from the outside.

Because the enemy is a formidable force, not an ordinary army, as evidenced by their ability to create a blockade encirclement of over 100,000 troops, while our side, located outside this blockade, has only 24,000 troops. Under such circumstances, how could we possibly break through?

Even if it were a single, relentless attack on a single point, regardless of casualties, it would probably require two to three divisions to accomplish.

But the current situation is that we don't have the troops, so isn't this just like throwing an egg against a rock?

One wrong move and the enemy could extend the blockade line even further, potentially engulfing our current 24,000 troops as well, which would truly mean the end for us.

Misby stared intently at Dingle, hoping he would understand this principle and not let momentary anger cloud his judgment, causing even greater losses in battle.